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"Fluoride Fight Has Long Roots, Passionate Advocates"

"Set aside the science lessons. The fight over fluoride is as much or more a clash of philosophy."

"As Wichitans decide whether to add the cavity-fighting chemical to their city's drinking water, the two sides in the campaign for the Nov. 6 election are pounding away at each other with rhetorical clubs labeled "public good" and "freedom of choice."

On one side are almost all the city's doctors and dentists, dismayed by what they see as needless suffering in the patients who come to them with preventable dental decay. They gathered more than 11,000 signatures on an initiative petition that forced the City Council, which had avoided taking a stand on fluoride, to put it to a public vote.

They've been met with an equally passionate campaign by fluoride foes who see it as a dangerous forced medication. They see fluoridation as a case of government overstepping its bounds and taking over what they believe should be a matter of personal choice.

Both sides accuse the other of trying to deceive the public to win the election."